Fossil fuels are currently the primary source used to generate electricity and are the major source of fuel-energy for our various modes of transportation and electrical energy production. It is widely believed that hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology for generating electricity on a commercial scale needed to replace existing fossil fuel systems. Hydrogen is one of the most abundant elements on Earth, and when combined with oxygen in standard fuel cell reactions, produces only pure water and usable energy.
Hydrogen in its gaseous form is currently produced from either fossil fuel-powered commercial processes or is a captured byproduct of conversion from natural gas and petroleum. Using existing methods, commercial production of hydrogen for large scale use in fuel cells would be expected to contribute significantly to global fossil fuel emissions. In addition, storage of hydrogen gas for use in fuel cells and commercial refueling centers poses an extreme explosive hazard.
One method for hydrogen storage that has been shown to greatly reduce the explosive hazard is to suspend the hydrogen in the molecular structure of glass beads. Hydrogen suspended in the microstructure of glass beads is safe for long term storage and transfer. The suspended hydrogen can be released in a controlled manner by heating the beads. However, a disadvantage of this approach is that fossil fuels are generally used to provide the energy for the processes used to produce the hydrogen gas and impregnate the beads under pressure.
There are two persistent problems for implementing wide spread use of hydrogen fuel cell technologies: 1) how to produce hydrogen on a large scale without using fossil fuels, and 2) how to provide a safe method of storing and transferring hydrogen in a useable form with processes that do not require energy from fossil fuels. Electrolysis, a widely known and used technique, provides one method to generate hydrogen without using fossil fuels. A need still exists for a system that can safely store and transfer hydrogen in a usable form with processes that do not require energy from fossil fuels, and that can readily be integrated into a variety of devices without requiring a significant amount of device space.